1. Field
This invention relates generally to Pliable Combined Supports, and more particularly to such supports which are used for attaching decorative lights to buildings or structures and which can store lights without forming tangles or damaging the bulbs.
2. Prior Art
Decorative lighting is commonly displayed seasonally on buildings and structures. Such lighting is also removed from display at the end of the season and then redisplayed when the season begins again.
Previously, this lighting was stored by the consumer by wrapping, bundling, or boxing. However, consumers objected since these methods frequently lead to tangling, thereby damaging wires and bulbs and rendering them inoperable.
Thereafter, inventors created several types of articles to store decorative lights in such a way as to leave them undamaged after they were removed from display at the end of the season. U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,792 B1 to Mark Snow (2003) discloses a simple reel which can roll lighting on a spool minimizing tangling upon storage; however, these reels are difficult to wind and unwind because the light sockets tangle in the wire layers above. They also do not provide protection to the inner bulbs which are vulnerable to damage from outer layers of lighting wrapping over them.
Thus, if the decorative lighting is wound too tight then damage may occur, rendering the lighting useless. Also the reels are relatively expensive to manufacture; and one reel only stores an average-length strand of decorative lighting. Finally, the reels also do not accommodate the newer styles of decorative lighting which are much wider than the reel, itself.
A single-bulb holder has been introduced in U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,108 to Lonnie F. Gary (1992) which attaches to individual bulbs in the decorative lighting and then clips to a building or structure. These single-bulb holders are inexpensive to manufacture; however, many are needed for each piece of decorative lighting and they do not provide shear, tensile, compression, or tension support to the decorative lighting strands. These single-bulb holders are also not effective in preventing tangling-damage or pulling-damage to the decorative lighting during storage.
The decorative lighting must hang without support or lay in a pile while the single-bulb holders are attached to (or unattached from) the house. Thus, if the decorative lighting has been attached to a single-bulb holder and then clipped to a building or structure, the single-bulb holder may increase the possibility of damage to the decorative lighting. Further, the single-bulb holders are removed and stored seasonally, again increasing the possibility of damage to the decorative lighting by frequent handling.
3. Advantages
Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of providing shear, tensile, compression, and tension support to decorative lighting described in our above patent, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:                (a) to provide a support which allows easy attachment of decorative lighting to a structure or building;        (b) to provide a support which will allow attachment of a wide variety of styles of decorative lighting;        (c) to provide reversible coupling supports that allow the decorative lighting to be attached to the receiving mount (Receiver) or the insert mount (Insert) at the consumer's discretion;        (d) to provide a coupling support with a standardized receiving mount (Receiver) that will allow switching of decorative lighting for different seasons and occasions without requiring the detachment of the receiving mount (Receiver) from structure of the building;        (e) to provide a coupling support with a standardized insert mount (Insert) that will allow switching of decorative lighting for different seasons and occasions without requiring the detachment of the insert mount (Insert) from the structure of the building;        (f) can be produced in a relatively inexpensive extrusion and stamping process;        (g) allows a variety of colors;        (h) to provide a storage method that will allow lights to be stacked or boxed without tangling;        (i) to provide a versatile support that can accommodate sloped, vertical, or horizontal structures; and,        (j) can be produced in variable lengths and cut by the consumer to exactly fit the structure.        